SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — Some Seminole County families say the school district's new dress code has a double standard. Girls aren't allowed to wear short skirts, but cheerleaders are.
Some Lake Brantley High School parents are upset about it. One parent complained that his daughter was sent home because her skirt was not at least mid-thigh, but the cheerleaders are allowed to do it on game days.
Lake Brantley's principal was considering making cheerleaders wear bike shorts under uniforms, which upset them.
Seminole schools have a new, stricter dress code that requires girls' clothing to cover at least half their thigh. The complaint by a Lake Brantley High School student, who was sent home for violating the dress code, led the principal to check the cheerleaders' uniforms Wednesday.
Cheerleaders have always worn their uniforms to school on game days. The principal found their school-issued uniforms violated the district dress code and told them they might have to wear shorts or not wear their uniforms at all.
"It was a lot of disappointment, but mostly anger, because we're supposed to be representing our school," cheerleader Mayra Quinones said.
Many of the cheerleaders' mothers, some of them former cheerleaders, told WFTV changing the time-honored tradition is ridiculous.
"They go out and they cheer at the games in the heat and in the rain and they deserve to wear the uniforms," cheerleader parent Eileen Gehlbach said.
By late Wednesday afternoon, Lake Brantley's principal had polled all the others in the district and found out they were allowing exceptions for the cheerleaders, so she decided to go along with them.
Cheerleaders will be happy to hear it, but not everyone is cheering the decision.
"Then you're going to start picking who's gonna go home and who isn't based on what day it is and what uniform or piece of clothing you're wearing," parent Cheryl Caballero said.
The dress code used to say skirts had to be at least to your fingertips, with your hands at your sides, but some girls' arms and legs were longer than others, so they came up with a new standard: at least half the thigh has to be covered.